Page 18

Epilogue

A nya

“Count them again,” Zar snarls.

“I can count them a hundred times more,” Shadow snaps. “Unanimous is unanimous.” With the way he’s rolling his eyes, if he weren’t a big, muscled gladiator, he’d be a junior high school girl.

“Unanimous sounds pretty decisive,” I say as I thread my fingers through Zar’s. “They’ve elected you captain. Accept with grace.”

Somehow, his expression loses its angry fire on the trip between staring down Shadow and gazing at me with love.

“Yes, my Anya. You’re right, as usual.” After dipping his lips to the top of my head for the briefest, softest kiss, he raises his voice for everyone assembled in the dining room to hear. “Since you’ve all voted for me, even in the recount, I appreciate your faith in me and accept the position of captain.”

Everyone on the ship is here, but none can see the way his fingers squeeze mine. Funny how he’s been my lifeline through the insurrection, but I’m the person he counts on when he feels insecure.

“Your trust in me is serious, and I will hold this position with honor. It’s a lot of responsibility to captain a ship while being chased by the MarZan cartel and possibly the Galactic Federation as well. I promise to carry out my duties to the best of my ability to show you I’m worthy of your faith and trust.”

He looks every one of them in the eyes and nods, expressing his sincerity. They all clap, the males pounding their chest and nodding, giving him their utmost respect.

“As my first order of business, I’m told that on Earth, ship captains are empowered to conduct what my Anya calls ménage ceremonies.”

While he’s smiling his proud and terrifying grin, with those deadly fangs exposed, I correct, “Marriage.”

“Marriage,” he says. “My lovely Anya said she wanted to be marriaged, and I’d like everyone in attendance to give us your blessing.”

He’s so adorable. Every day that passes, he loosens up a bit, just making him more loveable. I’m not sure if mangling those words is a joke, or just some glitch in our translators.

“When will the nuptials be?” Axxios, the golden pilot asks in that formal way he has of speaking.

“Right now,” Zar says. “I’ve written it out.”

Several emotions slice through me, twining and dancing along my veins. I love him with all my heart, so I don’t know why I experience a frisson of fear. The second feeling is a tidal wave of love washing through me.

I’d mentioned a marriage ceremony, but I never expected it. Certainly not now. We’re still wearing our matching blue jumpsuits. I’ve cut and sewn the hems, but they’re as heinous as they were before, just less of a tripping hazard.

“Now?” I stage whisper to Zar.

“What better time? We arrive on planet Numa tomorrow.” He dips his head closer and speaks softly enough only I can hear. “We plan to change our ident numbers, repair the damage from the Marauder attack, and buy clothes that fit you little Earth females. But our enemies could be waiting for us there. I want you to have this. I want both of us to have this. Does it matter what you wear? Shouldn’t it be about what’s in your heart?”

Putting it like that reminds me what the point of the ceremony is—commitment. Enormous blue jumpsuit or white gown, it shouldn’t make a difference.

“Yes. It should be about what’s in our hearts. Let’s get marriaged.”

Here we are in the dining room of a ship we just took over in an armed insurrection. We’re surrounded by our comrades. If we live long enough, I hope they become our friends. They’re standing, gathered around us, every single face beaming with happiness, which, I’m sure, reflects back to them in the expressions on our faces.

I push all of that to the back of my mind. The fear of the future, the worries about such a big commitment, wondering what awaits us on Numa and beyond. It strikes me that even if I’d courted a man on Earth for years, I’d still have the same jitters on my wedding day. You never know what the future holds. You can only trust in the power of love.

Zar and I love each other enough to stand together no matter what the future holds.

He reaches into a pocket of his dark blue jumpsuit and brings out a folded slip of paper. I don’t know where he found paper. Everything seems to be written on computers on this ship.

My lion-man ran into the engine room, facing death, without a moment’s hesitation. Now, though, his hands are trembling with the weight of what we’re about to do. For some reason, this soothes me. To know he’s not taking this lightly, that this ceremony is as meaningful to him as it is to me, is reassuring.

“Welcome to our mating ceremony,” Zar intones, his gaze flicking to the assembly. “Thank you for giving your blessing to my union with my beloved Anya.”

His golden eyes find mine, and the muscles on his face soften. Everything in the room fades away, and it’s just Zar and me. All the butterflies that had swarmed in my chest evaporate. How could I hold onto any emotion but love right now? With him gazing at me with so much affection, there’s no room in my chest for anything but warm swells of love.

“I was a slab of living granite the day I met you. The muscle inside my chest beat, but I was a walking automaton. I’d become so accustomed to death, I forgot what life was.”

His head dips imperceptibly toward me, as if he wanted to punctuate his words with a kiss, but he draws back to his full height to continue.

“All of that changed the day I met you. You thawed my heart, chiseled away the layers I’d wrapped around it, and found the person inside me who had been lost for a long time.”

My chest tightens and I swallow a couple times, fighting back my happy tears. He’s already grown so much, come so far from the male I met in that cell only a few days ago. I wonder what other changes are in store as we grow old together.

“You are my truemate. The other half of my heart and soul. I promise you honesty, faithfulness, affection, and protection, Anya. But most of all, I promise you love.”

My knees dip as the sweetest emotion sweeps over me with the force of a tsunami.

It hits me that I should respond. He’d prepared, brought some notes. I can only speak from my heart.

“I didn’t believe in soulmates, or truemates as you call them. I do now. I promise to be your confidant, your friend, and your trusted advisor. Most of all, I promise to love you with all my heart. Forever.”

My words may not have been practiced, but they brought a wide, fanged smile to Zar’s face. I think it will be a few more weeks before those long canines no longer trigger the immediate desire to run from an apex predator.

“Kiss the bride!” Savannah calls.

When Zar doesn’t immediately comply, a chorus of feminine voices chants, “Kiss the bride. Kiss the bride.” On the next round, all the males chime in.

“Here?” Zar asks.

“Give it your best, babe.”

Instead of bending to my level, he grips me around my waist and lifts me to his. Before he kisses me, he places his lips to my ear.

“This is what you wanted, my beloved? Was this the mating ceremony of your dreams?”

“Far from it, big guy. This was so much better.”

“Aye.” His lips descend to mine and everything else fades away.

Two weeks ago, if someone told me aliens were real and being abducted would be the best thing to ever happen to me, I would have laughed myself sick. I can’t believe how my life has changed in so short a time. I don’t know what the future holds, but I know I’ll face it with a helpmate, a soulmate, my lover and best friend who I’m now marriaged to. My beloved. My Zar.

The End